How Firms with Low Turnover Retain Staff

Source: Accounting Today

Firms employ different retention strategies for different kinds of employees. Here is a summary of some successful programs:

v      Performance-based compensation.

v      Flexible work schedules.

v      Inclusion in all phases of client work.

v      Partner participation in scheduling.

v      High standards used in accepting clients.

v      Work-at-home programs.

v      Alumni networks.

v      High-quality support personnel.

v      Staff diversity.

v      Responsiveness to staff input.

v      Creating a caring atmosphere.

v      Staff assignments to more than one niche.

v      Wide-ranging training programs.

Here are some programs initiated by a few firms:

v    Mintz Rosenfeld & Co, New Jersey, includes young staff in every phase of the client engagement. It also uses partners in the scheduling function, communicating to staff that the firm cares about their work and their stress. Being selective about the kinds of clients the firm accepts is, among other things, a way of being considerate of staff.

v    Anders Minkler & Diehl, St. Louis, provides staff with the technology to be in touch with clients from home. This promotes work-life balance.

v    Rothstein Kass, New Jersey, is creating a network of alumni, promoting the idea that employees are always members of the family.

v    Stonefield Josephson, California, focuses on hiring the best possible support personnel for staff—marketing, technology, human resources, and quality control. Staff diversity is also a positive factor at Stonefield Josephson. The firm always looks for staff who are zealous about contributing to the firm’s achievement of its goals. These people get a lot of attention. The firm is also responsive to challenging ideas and suggestions from staff.

v    Alpern Rosenthal, Pittsburgh, has formed a “Quality of Life Committee” that permits staff contact with management to communicate ideas. Under its mentoring program, each staff member has an assigned mentor. Mentoring sessions are independent of the employee evaluation program. Mentors help mentees develop management skills and achieve their goals.

v    Kaufman, Rossin & Co., Florida, has developed a “caring atmosphere.” The firm maintains a “communal floor” with a kitchen, massage room, sauna, and gym.

v    Clark Nuber, Belleville, Washington, uses a strategic map that includes employee retention as major goal. Every employee has a color, laminated copy of the map. At semi-annual meetings of the entire firm, the map is displayed so that goals and achievements, including employee retention, can be compared. Employees at Clark Nuber are not assigned to just one niche. An extensive list of training programs is available to employees.

Add good recruiting—hiring the best—and retention will improve even further.

v    Using happy staff members in the recruiting process has been successful for Mintz Rosenfeld.

v    Helping family members adjust to the change when a person has been moved to a new city was extremely comforting to a new hire at Anders, Minkler & Diehl.

v    Promoting the “quality of life” culture at Stonefield Josephson has made a major impact on candidates for employment. Year-round casual dress, liberal vacation and time-off policies are also attractions.

From Accounting Today, June 20, 2005. For the complete article, click on the following link:
http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=13340&;pg=acctoday.